Posted
by
CmdrTaco
on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @02:00PM
from the steve-puts-on-a-show dept.

A number of announcements from the Mac World keynote this afternoon.
The iPod Shuffle is pack-of-gum sized, no screen, weighs less than an ounce. Ships today, $99 for the half gig, $149 for a gig.
The Mac Mini is the headless iMac... 6x6x2.5 with all the expected plugs, starting at $499.
Lot's of tiger bits, spotlight, virtual folders in Mail.app. iLife '05 will ship Jan 22. iPhoto gets folders and video support. iMovie supports HD. GarageBand gets 8 channel recording. iWork includes Keynote 2, and 'Pages' the new word processor and ships the same day as iLife.

One solution to dealing with the iPod Shuffle's lack of a screen is build them small enough that they can only hold 2 songs. This way you only need an On/Off button and an Other Song button. And that will save case space as well.

Anyone see this on the iPod Shuffle page [apple.com] at Apple? Read footnote 2:Do not eat iPod shuffle. It's a reference to this image [apple.com] at the Apple site that shows the relative size of the Shuffle. This is almost as good as the whole "Cookies are a Delicious Treat" thing or whatever it is in Firefox.

1. Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128Kbps AAC encoding.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
3. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
4. Some computers require either the optional iPod shuffle Dock or a USB cable extender (sold separately).

From the Mac mini website: "Keyboard, iPod mini, dock, hands, AirPort, Bluetooth and PC sold separately."
Of course you have to see the page http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html [apple.com] to appreciate the statement.
With this and the not eating the new iPod, it looks like someone at Apple has a sense of humor.

yeah and maybe gmrs, frs, cb, ham, weather channel, tv audio, radar, gps, james bond tracking system and whatever else they can throw on it. i mean i have to have every type of communication on my 21st century walkman!

oh and it needs a 10 foot tall whip antenna. i'd be pissed if i couldn't get good reception. also i love the 70's jeep look about them...

It's already happening.Just today I saw an ad for a new Microwave oven that cooks your food on a random temperature for a random length of time! Surprise!And then there's the clothes washer that picks a random cycle; What will it be today? Color? Whites? Gentle?My favorite is the new service from eTrade that shuffles your stock portfolio. Takes all the effort out of trading!

I was telling someone to right-click the other day. He looked down at his mouse.

"But I'm holding it in my right hand already"

"I mean right-click... there's two buttons, use the right-hand-side one"

"They're both on my right-hand-side... is there another of these?"

For the older generation, right-click makes no sense at all until you do this kind of mind-flip. I eventually latched on to calling it the rightmost button, but you can see why it may be confusing for someone who hasn't quite got their mind in the right mode yet.

Sorry man, I always give my Canadian friends shit about their money being worthless, but you deserve hot hot mac love as well.
I guess I can empty my pockets of change and mail it to you, that should cover about half of it at the current rate, right?;)

I want one! The Temptation is too big. Apple was Touched by the Hand of God when they designed that device. I have True Faith that I will not Regret buying one. No more Blue Monday! Having a Fine Time...

Well, I'll be able to help you. See, I know how to 'fix' the iMac so it's just a screen. Just ship it up, send it to me, and I'll take care of it. It just may look like a red Nokia 447L 15" CRT, but hey, that's just the bleeding edge of style with monitors these days.